Rory McIlroy impressively went through his entire pre-round routine on the range and the short-game area with all the hope and expectation of making a third-round move in this 125th US Open at Oakmont. But when the time came for every shot to count, the world number two found himself in reverse.
Ultimately, a third round of 74 for a 54-holes total of 220, 10 over par, has McIlroy cast among the also rans.
His position was reflected in his post-round remarks.
Question: “What do you look for tomorrow?”
Answer: “Hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here!”
McIlroy’s aim to get up and running early in an attempt to navigate a route up the leaderboard never truly got going, as his outside hopes of a fourth title of the season – to add to the Pebble Beach pro-am, the Players and the Masters – dwindled with two bogeys, at the third and ninth, in an outward nine of 37 strokes.
One of two birdies came on the 10th and the other on the drivable par-4 17th where he found a greenside bunker and splashed out to six feet. But there were also four bogeys, the last of them coming on the 18th where his tee shot finished in rough 20 yards right of the fairway.
“I was hoping to play better today but didn’t,” admitted McIlroy, who’d impressively birdied the 18th in his second round to guarantee his presence for weekend, with his frustration evident when loose shots were penalised and he was even reduced at times to smiling at his plight.
He added: “It’s funny, like it’s much easier being on the cut line when you don’t really care if you’re here for the weekend or not. I was sort of thinking, ‘do I really want two more days here or not?’ So it makes it easier to play better when you’re in that mindset.
Of the demands placed on players by the course, McIlroy – who has committed to next week’s Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour – claimed: “The name of the game this week is staying patient, and try to do a good job of it out there, but it’s one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly.
“I actually feel like I’ve played okay this week. It’s a sort of golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot and that’s sort of how it’s felt this week.”
